MANILA, Philippines – Newly installed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde on Friday, April 20, questioned the basis of a European Parliament resolution urging the Philippines to stop extrajudicial killings in its campaign against illegal drugs.

Albayalde said that for starters, the Philippine government does not believe that there are extrajudicial killings in the country.

“I don’t know where [they’re] coming from,” Albayalde said in his first Camp Crame press conference as PNP chief, in response to questions on the resolution.

He called on the EU Parliament to provide him data before he gives a comprehensive comment on the issue. 

The EU Parliament has yet to release the full text of its resolution, and has only relayed the summary, so far, to the media on Thursday night.

Albayalde said that on the part of the government, it has supposedly proven that there are no extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, echoing the government stance that people killed in the campaign were legitimate targets as they “fought back.”

Based on the government’s official tally, 4,075 people have been killed in its anti-drug operations under the Duterte administration, or from July 1, 2016, to March 20, 2018. – Rappler.com